Steering-wheel.



R. HARROUN.

STEERING WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16,1917.

1,280,724. Patented 0011.8,1918.

. ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RAY HARROUN, or HIGHLAND PARK-MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR '10 HARROUN MOTORS CORPORATION, or WAYNE, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

STEERING-WHEEL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RAY HARROUN, a citizen of the United States of America, resid-' ing at Highland Park, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steering-Wheels, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to steering Wheels such as are employed in connection with antomobiles or the like. v

Among the objects of the invention are to provide a construction in which the steering wheel will absorb the road shocks; to provide a construction in which the spider arms of the steering-wheel are constructed in the form of leaf springs so as to give a yielding movement of the rim of the steering wheel in a direction parallel to the axis of the post, while preventing lateral movement; to so construct and arrange the parts that the vibrations transmitted to the steering post will not be carried through the steering wheel to the drivers hands; and in general to provide a new steering wheel of the character-above referred to.

In the drawings? Figure 1 is a top plan view of a steering wheel embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vert cal section on the line w m of Fig. 1.

The present invention contemplates a novel steering wheel for automobiles or the like, the rim of which has an up and down resiliency, while it is held from lateral yielding movement and the particularconstruction shown in the drawings is as follows:

Mounted upon the steering post A is a head 'Bisecured'thereto by a suitable cap C. This head forms the hub of the steering wheel and from its bearing portions D, D, etc, there projects spider arms F, F, F and Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 16, 1917. Serial No. 149,116.

awed Oct. s, 1918,.

F These arms are made up of overlap ing leaves G, G and G which in eflectorm leaf springs having at their outer ends curvedseats H and H? secured to the wooden rim or gripping portion I by suitable Wood screws J having counter-sunk heads J. The head B is keyed to the post A by any suitable means, such as the key L and as the spider arms are continuous from side to side, any lateral movement of the rim I relative to the post A is prevented. However,

- since the spider arms supporting the rim are formed of leaf springs, the rim is permitted suflicient up and down movement, that is, in a direction parallel to the plane of the axis of the steering post, to prevent the transmission of any vibrations from the post to the rim of the steering Wheel.

Thus while a sufliciently rigid construction laterally is maintained for the proper steer ing of the vehicle, the vibrations which are annoying in steering wheels of ordinary construction are avoided. 7

What I claim as my invention is: O 1. In a steering wheel, the combination with a steering post, of a steering wheel having a hub connected to said post, a rim, and connections between'said hub and rim comprising overlapping leaf spring members one of which has its outer end rigidly secured to the rim.

2, In a steering wheel, the combination with a steering post, of a steering wheel having a hub connected to said post, a rim, connections between said hub and rim comprising overlapping leaf spring members one ofwhich has its outer end rigidly secured to the rim, and the inner end of said leaf spring members being clamped to the hub portion of the wheel.

RAY HARROUN. 

